While it's easy to ignore the possibility of losing your job, a failed business, medical emergency, or lawsuit, these are all scenarios that could quickly become expensive realities. As David Bach writes in his bestseller, "The Automatic Millionaire," "No matter how well you plan or how positively you think, there are always things out of your control that can go wrong.

Hsieh isn't the only advocate of prioritizing your emergency fund from a young age.